


monopoly, mistletoe and other such misadventures

by SJAandDWfan



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/F, Wig snatched, also more avalance making out cause who doesn't want that, gay elevated, idk about ratings but i'm gonna put it up to an m just to be safe, like really minor though sorry, minor amaya x zari and nate x ray too, more amaya x zari in chapter 2, running on 2 hours sleep wooo, they're just so... soft?, this ep of legends had it all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-11 12:17:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12935106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SJAandDWfan/pseuds/SJAandDWfan
Summary: Honestly, she’s not expecting her to turn up, so she helps put the decorations in place, helps Amaya get all the food that Gideon synthesises ready to eat, and only rolls her eyes when Nate childishly insists on hanging sprigs of mistletoe from random places on the ceiling, using Zari’s blast of air to levitate himself.They’re halfway through dinner when a familiar portal opens and Ava steps through.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this probably isn't the first and won't be the last avalance fic to use mistletoe and the like, but the more the merrier for tropey holiday fun, so enjoy!
> 
> shout out to the last ep of legends for snatching my wig and leaving me screaming on the floor

Sara knows Ava has to report to the Time Bureau about the threat of Mallus, but she still video calls Ava to invite her to the impromptu Holiday party the legends throw before Jax leaves. Honestly, she’s not expecting her to turn up, so she helps put the decorations in place, helps Amaya get all the food that Gideon synthesises ready to eat, and only rolls her eyes when Nate childishly insists on hanging sprigs of mistletoe from random places on the ceiling, using Zari’s blast of air to levitate himself.

They’re halfway through dinner when a familiar portal opens and Ava steps through. The team look up in surprise, and Ava holds her hands behind her back and shifts almost like she’s nervous and when she looks at Sara, her eyes hold doubt.

“Ava,” Sara says, trying for a reassuring smile and pulling out the empty chair next to her. “You’re late.”

Ava lets out a breath, and approaches the table, sitting next to Sara and opposite Mick, who simply grunts at her and raises his bottle in something resembling a toast.

“I talked to Director Bennett about Mallus,” Ava says, pulling a plate towards her and starting to stack it with food. “He took some convincing, but he’s agreed to another tribunal for Rip.”

“Thank you,” Sara says genuinely. Rip may have sold them out yet again, but once upon a time he had been her friend, and she’d never wanted him to end up in prison.

Sara sees Amaya and Zari exchange looks, although she’s not completely sure what that’s about. She watches with raised eyebrows as Ava devours the food on her plate in record time. Mick huffs out a laugh.

“I like this one.”

Ava frowns at him like she thinks he’s making fun of her, and Sara’s starting to realise a lot more about Ava and why she can be such a pain in the ass. She’s not sure if Ava has actual friends beyond co-workers. She certainly doesn’t play well with others when they don’t follow orders, and yet she herself had defied her own orders in order to save Sara from the alternate dimension. Sara supposes everything’s falling apart at the Bureau, and maybe it gave Ava a new perspective on the legends. She’d certainly kept her snark to a minimum on the mission, though whether that’s because the loss of Stein is still so fresh Sara doesn’t know. Even Gideon pulled up the records Ava asked her to.

Maybe, just maybe, Ava is actually a nice person, but with so many walls and insults to hide behind, her true nature gets lost. Sara wonders if those defences are there from past experience, or a strict upbringing, or something else. She still doesn’t know quite what to make of her. There’s no doubt Ava gets under her skin, has done from their first meeting. But where once she had only felt annoyance at seeing her, recently her opinion has changed drastically. Ava’s proved she can be trusted, at least, and she’s probably a real human being and not a robot as Sara had initially theorised.

Mostly, Sara’s just confused when she looks at Ava now. She feels kind of warm, and sometimes she even wants to smile at her, which is troubling. Ava is also startlingly pretty, when Sara really thinks about it, especially with her hair loose and pulled over one shoulder like it is now. And now that she knows Ava is probably gay…

Sara mentally slaps herself. She doesn’t like feelings. She puts feelings in a locked box. She punches her feelings in the face because she dislikes them so much. Feelings for a person tilt the world just so, enough to throw her off balance, and Sara likes to have her feet firmly on level ground.

She doesn’t notice someone trying to get her attention until Ava pokes her in the side. Blinking suddenly as she emerges from her thoughts, Sara turns her attention to Ray, who’s asking something about party games. The team’s been through such a rough time of it lately that Sara doesn’t have the heart to shoot him down.

And so that’s how she finds herself, ten minutes later, playing Pictionary with the rest of the team plus Ava. They let Jax win, even Ava (and Sara can tell how hard it is for her to lose on purpose) and it’s bittersweet because they don’t know when he’ll return to the team, if ever. She knows it’s what’s best for him, but it still hurts because he’s the little brother she never had and she’s really going to miss him.

“Having fun?” Ava whispers as she shuffles the monopoly cards. Sara’s not entirely sure why they thought monopoly would be a good idea, but it’s Nate, Ray, Jax, Amaya, Zari and Leo playing while Ava volunteers herself for banker and Sara and Mick oversee the game, ready to break up any fights.

“Tonnes,” Sara rolls her eyes. “I can’t wait to see how many arguments this causes.”

“Who knew a bunch of human disasters flying around in a timeship could be so domestic,” Ava says, and Sara wants to argue, but it’s kind of the truth.

She shrugs instead. “They’re my family,” she murmurs, watching her team argue over who got what piece and who got to roll first.

“Must be nice,” Ava says, and Sara knows she’s aiming for joking, but it comes out more wistful than anything else.

“What, the Time Bureau don’t have little Christmas get-togethers like this?” She teases.

“I got a Christmas card from Rip once,” Ava says. “He spelt my name wrong, though.”

“That is officially the saddest thing I’ve ever heard,” Sara says in disbelief, and Ava rolls her eyes.

“I’m not a charity case,” she says.

“No, but you need actual friends,” Sara points out. “You know, the people on this ship are actually really great if you give them a chance. Be nice to them, for example.”

Ava huffs out a laugh and shakes her head. “They’ve already made their minds up about me, which is fair enough.”

“Shut up, no they haven’t,” Sara says. “Besides, even if they had, opinions can change. Mine has.”

Sara looks steadfastly at her own hands, but she catches Ava snap to attention out of the corner of her eye. Ava doesn’t say anything; Sara can tell she’s struggling to find the right words, but she’s spared by the game being set up and her services as banker being required.

As Ava dutifully hands out and collects money, she and Sara use it as time to just chat. They haven’t really done that before, and it’s actually kind of nice even if Sara feels like she might have to punch a few more feelings before the evening is through.

It doesn’t take long before they get their first tantrum.

Nate and Ray are both in jail, but Ray gets out immediately while Nate is left desperately trying to roll a double each time his turn comes around. He has to stand up and walk it off, and Ray goes with him, talking to him in hushed tones.

Zari suddenly lets out a yell, and everyone jumps.

“Sorry,” Zari apologises quickly, “but you two might wanna take a look up.”

Sara’s eyes flick above the boys’ heads to find one of the sprigs of mistletoe Nate had put up earlier, and she can’t help but shake with silent laughter. Everyone’s watching Nate and Ray in anticipation, and Sara notices a few phones pulling up their camera app.

“Joke’s on you,” Nate says, addressing the team. “You think we’re going to be awkward, but we’re not.”

“Just kiss him and get it over with, pretty!” Mick yells.

Nate grabs Ray by the shoulders and kisses him square on the mouth, accompanied by the general whooping and cheering from the team. Ray looks slightly shell-shocked as they part.

“Okay, now do it again, only slower,” Zari tries, and Amaya bats her on the shoulder playfully.

“Leave them alone.”

Nate seems to have forgotten about his jail woes, at least, as he and Ray sit back down. Sara can see Ava shaking her head in disbelief, and she just knows that this would be an HR nightmare if this was the Bureau.

But it’s not the Bureau, and she thinks Ava’s starting to really see that now. That she might have friends here.

*****

After monopoly (they’d given up before someone actually won outright, but Amaya had cleaned everyone out money-wise) they play various Holiday songs as the drinks come out and people split off into smaller groups to chat.

Amaya and Zari are the only other ones to get caught under the mistletoe, but neither seems to mind, and Sara wonders just how accidental the whole thing had been. They certainly kiss longer than strictly required, at any rate.

Sara finds herself mostly talking to Ava, and actually enjoying her company. She’s stunned at how fast things have changed between them, and she voices as much to Ava.

“I guess I just did a lot of thinking between Rip being detained and calling you the other day,” Ava admits with a shrug. “I started to see how unbending and selfish the Time Bureau can be, and it made me reconsider my stance on your team. At least you actually accomplish good.”

“Most of the time,” Sara allows. “I’ll admit there are times where a little bit of order would be a good thing around here.”

“And then I heard the news about Martin, and the level twelve anachronism,” Ava continues. “And I realised that I was too dismissive of you before. I’m sorry for that.”

Taken aback by Ava’s apology, Sara manages what she hopes is a warm smile. “I’m sorry for being a pain in the ass.”

“No you’re not,” Ava smirks at her, and Sara grins.

“Not really,” she admits.

“You know, this is the first time I’ve been invited to a party,” Ava comments, and Sara is floored.

“Never? What did you do in high school?”

“I studied,” Ava says plainly. “College, too. I mostly kept to myself.”

“I think you, as a person, now make sense to me,” Sara mutters with a slight shake of her head, and Ava narrows her eyes. Sara shouldn’t find that as appealing as she does.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing bad,” Sara reassures her. “It’s just I think I get why you can be so hostile. You genuinely don’t know how to talk to people normally, do you?”

“Shut up, I do just fine,” Ava says, stepping to the side out of the way as Mick goes barrelling for the leftover food. Sara follows her the few paces, and they end up a bit closer together than they were before.

“Prove it, talk to me like a regular person,” Sara grins, and Ava rolls her eyes.

“Have you not been paying attention to our conversation?” She sighs, and Sara would reply if not for the sudden commotion coming from the other side of the room.

She turns her head to see the rest of the team looking at her, some with anticipation and others with a barely-concealed smirk. In her gut, she knows exactly what this is about, but it takes Jax pointing helpfully above their heads for her to fully notice the completely innocuous sprig of mistletoe that’s now above her and Ava’s heads.

Ava actually looks a bit terrified, ducking her head to hide behind the loose waves of her hair, and for some reason Sara’s nerves start to tingle too. She glances over at their audience, and back to Ava, who meets her eyes this time.

Sara can see the fear there, and she doesn’t want to make Ava uncomfortable, so she gives her an out.

“You don’t have to if-“

That’s as far as she gets before Ava steps into her personal space and silences her with a kiss. She grips onto Sara’s arm for dear life even as Sara recovers and kisses her back, reaching up to thread a hand through Ava’s hair. She gives a gentle tug and Ava’s lips part as she gasps against Sara’s mouth, and Sara uses the opportunity to slip her tongue into Ava’s mouth.

Everything else falls away as they kiss, and it sparks something in Sara. Suddenly, she can’t get enough of Ava, whose nails are starting to dig into Sara’s arm, whose tongue meets Sara’s own and she has to supress a guttural moan at the feeling. Ava, who kisses her like she might never get the chance again, and Sara has an inkling what that look of fear was about, because she feels it too.

Sara doesn’t know how long they’re kissing before the hollering from her ever-so-slightly inebriated team break through the Ava-induced fog in her head. She and Ava leap back from each other, and Sara’s lips tingle even as she brings a hand up to touch them.

Ava’s eyes are wide.

“I have to go,” she says quickly, and Sara doesn’t think she’s ever seen someone jump through a portal as fast as Ava does.

Her mind still playing catch-up, Sara turns to glare at her infinitely smug team.

“Not one word,” she warns, putting on her best death glare, but she knows it’s useless trying.

She knows she’s going to have to talk to Ava about what happened, because whatever Sara’s feeling, she’s pretty sure Ava’s feeling it too, hence her quick exit. She doesn’t want to push her, and she realises Ava probably runs from her feelings all the time (both metaphorically and physically). So she resolves to get through the difficult task of saying goodbye to Jax, and letting Ava collect her thoughts before she broaches the topic with her.

Because Sara knows feelings are terrifying, but if they can both stop themselves from being insufferable assholes about it, she has a feeling it will all work out in the end.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh, yeah.
> 
> so instead of writing my assessment, I wrote this? It was meant to be them talking, and they do talk, but they also make out, like, a lot.
> 
> I'm not really comfortable with writing smut, at least not right now, but I hope you enjoy this nonetheless!

Sara lets a couple of days go past before she starts to overthink it.

Ava had kissed her under the mistletoe, _really_ kissed her, and then jumped through a portal seconds later. Sara hasn’t seen or heard from her since, and it’s starting to worry her a bit.

What if Sara had read everything all wrong? What if Ava had only kissed her because of the pressures of being caught under the mistletoe? What if she had felt forced into kissing Sara?

Sara tries not to let her doubts eat away at her, she really does, but after two days with no contact from Ava well, she can’t help but wonder if she’s unknowingly thrown away something that could’ve been special. After all, she doesn’t feel the way she’s starting to about Ava very often.

Sara’s leaning back in the comfortable leather chair in her office with her arms behind her head, trying to clear her mind, when the familiar sound of a portal opening catches her attention. She starts, sitting bolt upright as she sees Ava step through. The portal closes behind her, and Sara tries not to smile too widely; doesn’t want to scare Ava away. A few days ago, Sara would have laughed at the notion of Ava being scared of anything, but she knows better now.

“Ava, hey,” she begins, trying and failing to keep the relief out of her voice. “It’s been a couple days, how are you?”

“Fine,” Ava says, chewing nervously on her bottom lip. “I, um, I’ve been meaning to apologise.”

Sara sighs. She’s heard this speech before, and she’s not sure if she can handle hearing it from Ava right now. She doesn’t want things to be awkward between them, she doesn’t want Ava to go back to how she used to be, not just as they were making progress.

“For kissing me, I get it,” Sara says, shutting her eyes so they can’t give anything away. She curses herself for not locking her feelings away the second she felt them, because this always happens. People always leave her. She just hadn’t thought Ava would so soon.

“For running away,” Ava clarifies, and one of Sara’s eyes cracks open in confusion. “I wouldn’t have kissed you if I didn’t want to, believe me.”

“Wait, you-“

“I got scared, okay?” Ava interrupts her in a rush, keeping her gaze locked on something above Sara’s head. “I kissed you, and, I don’t know. I forgot where I was. So when I saw your team, and I remembered that we were under that stupid mistletoe and it wasn’t what you wanted, I panicked. I shouldn’t have run out on you without an explanation, and I’m sorry.”

“Hold up, you thought it wasn’t what I wanted?” Sara asks, getting to her feet. Ava tilts her head in confusion, loose hair falling to one side, and Sara tries not to let it distract her. “Ava, I thought it was _you_ that didn’t want to kiss _me_!”

“What?”

“I was worried that you felt pressured into kissing me just because we were under mistletoe or something, that’s why I said you didn’t have to.” It feels good to get this all off her chest, and Sara feels a bit lighter already.

“But the more I thought about it afterwards, the more I thought it was your way of saying you didn’t want to,” Ava says, and Sara realises that they’re just going to keep going round and round in circles if something doesn’t happen. So she crosses the distance between her and Ava until she’s close enough to reach up and cup Ava’s cheeks, and brings their lips together in a soft kiss.

It’s less heated than their first kiss; gentler and slower, like they’ve got all the time in the world, and Sara can’t help but melt into Ava when she feels arms wrap around her waist. This time, she makes sure to memorise how exactly Ava’s lips feel against her own, and how she has to reach up slightly to accommodate their height difference. Sara breaks the kiss, but doesn’t retreat, wanting to stay as close as she can.

“Can we agree to start communicating better?” She asks, and Ava lets out a breathy laugh.

“It’s probably best,” she agrees.

“I, um, I like you,” Sara says, stroking her thumb back and forth over Ava’s cheek.

“That much is obvious,” Ava raises her eyebrows, like the confirmation gives her all the confidence she needs.

Sara playfully hip-checks her, though it’s not easy when they’re face to face, and Ava flushes slightly. “Don’t be an asshole,” she chides.

“I like you too, butthead,” Ava says.

“’Butthead’, really?” Sara laughs, and Ava shrugs. “What are you, twelve?”

Ava shuts her up with a kiss, and Sara really doesn’t mind it. She pushes herself impossibly closer to Ava, tangling one of her hands in Ava’s hair while the other keeps her steady. She can feel Ava’s own hands sliding up and down her back, and it makes her shiver.

Sara slips her tongue into Ava’s mouth, relishing the moan the action draws, and fists her hand tighter in Ava’s hair. Ava, not to be outdone, sucks hard on Sara’s bottom lip at the same time as her hands travel low enough to slide into the back pockets of her jeans and squeeze, and Sara groans into her mouth.

Ava pulls back for a second, long enough to lock eyes with Sara before ducking her head and pressing open-mouthed kisses down the column of Sara’s neck, and Sara grips onto her for dear life, because where the fuck did Ava learn to kiss like this? She knows when to change the pace of their kisses, and how Sara likes to be held, and she figures out really quickly that Sara loses it when she bites gently at her pulse point.

Dragging Ava’s head up so she can kiss her again, Sara manages to turn them around and push Ava backwards, back until Ava’s legs hit the chair and then they’re falling. They barely break the kiss as Sara settles on top of where Ava is sitting in the seat, knees bracketing Ava’s thighs as she kisses her with a hunger she hadn’t expected.

Sara feels like she can’t get enough. It’s been a while since she’s kissed or been kissed with so much _feeling_ , and she kind of loves it. Ava is very clear with the effect it’s all having on her, and Sara kind of loves that too, likes that the usually restrained Ava is so vocal when she sucks a hickey onto her collarbone. But they’re not the only people on the ship, and Sara shushes Ava and tells her as much before bringing their lips together again, even as her hands wander to the buttons of Ava’s shirt.

She breaks the kiss long enough to ask permission, and gets a frantic nod in return, so Sara swiftly unbuttons the blouse and pulls it back from Ava’s chest to expose her bra. Simple and white in colour, Sara briefly wonders if it’s standard Time Bureau issue, or if Ava just dresses like this, but she doesn’t care. She lowers her head to kiss and bite and suck a path down her chest, and one of Ava’s hands leaves her to cover her own mouth in an attempt to muffle the sounds Sara is drawing from her.

Sara helps her out; replaces her mouth with her hands as she drags Ava’s hand out of the way and kisses her to keep her quiet, running her thumbs over Ava’s nipples through the fabric. Ava’s hands tug at the hem of Sara’s top, and Sara quickly removes it, shivering as Ava’s hands roam freely over her shoulders, her breasts, her abs, never settling too long in one place.

Ava’s fingernails scratch over her stomach, and Sara’s hips jerk forwards, making them both gasp at the friction. They still for a second, and Sara wonders if she might have pushed things too far, but then Ava’s gripping the backs of her thighs and pulling Sara closer, encouraging her hips to rock against her, and Sara feels like she’s going to pass out.

Already, it feels like too much and not enough at the same time as Sara establishes a rhythm, rolling her body into Ava’s as she kisses her breathlessly and squeezes at her breasts. There’s too many clothes separating them, and her hair gets in the way even as their tongues slide against each other, and Ava’s making these little whimpering noises that spur Sara on further.

Ava’s managed to get Sara’s jeans unzipped when they hear a crash, followed by a thud and a giggle. They break the kiss and turn towards the source of the noise, and Sara’s never hated anyone more than whoever is unlucky enough to walk through that door next.

She’s in for a shock when she sees Zari drag Amaya by the hand onto the deck of the ship, both of them shushing each other and stifling laughter. Amaya’s about to kiss her when Zari spots Sara and Ava, and yelps.

“Occupied!” Sara yells at them, not caring about her own state of undress, but tugging Ava’s shirt together to shield her even as she glares at the two women. She registers in the back of her mind that Amaya and Zari were probably about to do what she and Ava almost, _almost_ did, and makes a mental note to talk to them about it later, but she can’t help the utter frustration she feels in that moment.

At least Ava’s not jumping through a portal, although she looks so stunned Sara would be surprised if she could stand.

“Sorry,” Zari sniggers, her voice lacking any apology whatsoever, and Sara rolls her eyes.

“Don’t you two have bunks you could be doing that in?”

“Don’t you?” Zari shoots back, raising her eyebrows.

“I have an office!” Sara defends, and she hears Ava laugh beneath her, despite the situation. Sara registers the fact that she’s still straddling Ava, and pushes herself backwards, standing a little unsteadily and retrieving her shirt. Ava re-buttons her blouse, and Sara smiles reassuringly at her, because she looks a little shell-shocked.

“I’m glad you two have worked things out,” Amaya breaks the silence before it gets awkward.

“Yeah, we were getting real tired of the captain moping around,” Zari adds.

“I was not – there was no moping,” Sara says indignantly, which pulls a smile from Ava as she gets to her feet and comes to stand by Sara.

“Sure, Jan,” Zari says, and Amaya furrows her brow in confusion.

“Jan?” She whispers to Zari.

“It’s a meme, babe,” Zari replies, and Sara’s ears perk up.

“’Babe’?” She repeats, surreptitiously taking Ava’s hand in her own as she advances on Zari and Amaya, cocking an eyebrow.

“So… we might be together,” Zari starts.

“We are together,” Amaya clarifies, looking at Zari with such love that Sara doesn’t have the heart to make fun of them for even a second.

“I’m happy for you guys,” she says instead, and even though Ava looks as if she still feels out of place on the ship, she nods too.

“Yay, we can totally double date now,” Zari says dryly, and Amaya nudges her pointedly. “Come on, these two are totally gonna be a thing. I mean, who takes a break in the middle of a fight to drink water and chat?”

“That is a good point,” Amaya concedes, and Sara rolls her eyes at them.

“Get a room,” she teases.

“Says the woman whose zipper is still undone,” Zari says, eyebrows raised.

Sara curses and finishes fixing her clothes, while Ava has the grace to look embarrassed.

“Not as uptight as you seem, then,” Zari continues gleefully.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Sara doesn’t want Ava to get freaked out, so she tugs her out of the room and down the hall, away from Zari and Amaya.

Ava lets out a breath. “That was, um…”

“Are you okay?” Sara asks. “It wasn’t too much?”

“Of course not,” Ava reassures her. She takes a step closer and lowers her voice. “I’d just rather we hadn’t been interrupted.”

“Oh,” Sara says dumbly. “Well, I do actually have a bedroom, if you’d like to make use of it.”

Ava smiles at her then, a slow smile that Sara just knows is going to be the death of her. _But_ , she thinks, as she leads Ava down the corridor to her bunk, _what a hell of a way to go_.

**Author's Note:**

> I should probably go do my assessment now oops
> 
> my tumblr is ilovemyships if you wanna come yell at me over there. peace out!


End file.
